Chapter 965: Adding icing on the cake and providing timely assistance
Sun Mansion, west wing.
Xing Xiuyun sat sideways in front of a dressing table inlaid with a mercury mirror. She first used a plain hairpin to tie up her long black hair, then glanced at the bottles and jars on the table and hesitated for a long time. In the end, she did not touch the rouge and powder, but only lightly combed her temples with tea oil.
After she had packed up so simply, she was about to get up from the stool.
"Auntie!"
Seeing this, the personal maidservant beside him became a little anxious and advised, "Let's not talk about it last night. Aunt Ruan is unique and no one in our house can surpass her. But you should fight for it today..."
Xing Xiuyan seemed to be deaf to whatever she said and stood up and walked out on her own.
The maid was disappointed. She pouted and stamped her feet, but she could only chase after him angrily.
The master and servant left the outer room and went straight along the corridor to Xiangling's room at the east end.
Ever since Xing Xiuyan married into the Sun family, the two of them have lived together in the west wing. Jiao and Mengmeng are always inseparable, and today is no exception.
But when Xing Xiuyan entered the inner room, she saw Xiangling wearing a small dress, staring at a table full of rouge, powder, head ornaments and jewelry with a look of distress.
Xing Xiuyan has been married into the Sun family for more than half a year. She has always been easy-going, generous and indifferent. Now she looks so sad and thoughtful, which is really rare. Therefore, I couldn't help laughing out loud.
"ah!"
Xiangling jumped up, half startled and half ashamed, holding up the front of her gown with both hands, and complained: "Sister, you almost frightened me to death with your sudden jumpiness!"
While complaining, he looked Xing Xiuyan up and down. Seeing that she looked even more plain from head to toe than usual, he couldn't help but remind her, "Sister, I've been traveling outside for most of the past six months. I finally returned to the capital. We...we should...should..."
Although she was reminding him intentionally, she was not the kind of person who would use her beauty to seduce others, and she knew that Xing Xiuyan was gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, and was actually very arrogant in her bones, so she inexplicably felt a little lacking in confidence when she was halfway through her words.
Xing Xiuyan smiled slightly, walked forward, picked up a few pieces of jewelry, and drew on Xiangling's hair while saying, "Second Master's return to the capital is a happy event, but now the Concubine Dowager has just passed away, and the First Madam has gone to the palace to mourn. If we dress up, it may not be appropriate."
This is the truth, but Xiangling always feels that the reason why Xing Xiuyun is unwilling to dress up is not because she is taboo about these things.
…
The two of them packed up everything, led Qingwen and several other maids, and hurried to the main hall of the second house.
As soon as I entered the courtyard, I heard a commotion in the west wing corridor. It turned out that Sun Chengyi was leading his sister and cousin, chasing and laughing in the corridor.
The two younger ones were fine, they just ran back and forth in the corridor, holding wooden swords covered with fine wool.
Sun Chengyi, who was already four and a half years old, ran around like a naughty monkey, climbing over railings, scaling rocks and entering flower beds. Wherever he passed, there was a mess. Even seven or eight old women, with their arms spread out, could not stop him.
Shi Liu was anxiously jumping up and down, when she suddenly saw Xing Xiuyan coming in from outside. She was overjoyed and hurriedly stepped forward to greet her.
"Aunt Xing is finally here! Look at what a fuss my eldest brother is making. If she disturbs Second Master..."
Xing Xiuyan gave him a calm look, took a few steps sideways and coughed heavily.
"cough!"
Sun Chengyi, who was having fun, suddenly froze. When he turned back, his face was full of anxiety.
He took a few steps forward hesitantly, and bowed politely: "Hello, Aunt Xing."
At first, Ruan Rong wanted to hand her son over to Xiangling for enlightenment, but Xiangling was so soft-hearted, how could she scare this naughty girl?
Later, Xing Xiuyun married into the Sun family. Her knowledge was better than Xiangling's, so this task fell on her.
After more than half a year, this naughty boy was really put under a tight spell - even in front of Ruan Rong, he had never been so well-behaved.
Xing Xiuyan nodded slightly, then her face darkened again: "Why didn't you deliver yesterday's homework?"
"this……"
Sun Chengyi hesitated, but his eyes were darting around. After a moment, he settled in the east room of the main hall and said, "Dad just came back yesterday, I..."
"Your dad also likes children who do their homework seriously."
But Xing Xiuyan had already seen through his thoughts and immediately stopped him from talking.
The little guy had no choice but to say goodbye to his younger siblings and went to the study with Shi Liu dejectedly .
After dealing with this little episode, Xing Xiuyan and Xiangling entered the main room of the hall.
"As expected, you are here."
As soon as I entered the door, I heard Ruan Rong laughing and saying, "Except for Sister Xing, no one in our family can control that naughty monkey!"
Xing Xiuyan smiled slightly, but Xiangling beside her couldn't hold back her anger. She looked around and asked suspiciously, "Where's the master? Did he go out so early?"
"Where is it?"
Ruan Rong spread her hands and said, "He's probably tired from the journey, and he's still lying in bed right now."
You Erjie, who was standing beside him, burst out laughing and covered her mouth with a handkerchief, saying, "It's not necessarily that she was tired from the journey. Last night, we were so happy to be apart for a short time..."
"Get out of here!"
Ruan Rong pushed her half-seriously and half-jokingly, then winked at Furong who was standing beside her.
Furong immediately brought a maid and brought out several makeup boxes from the west room and spread them out on the table.
"Everyone, come and have a look. This is what Grandpa brought back from Southern Xinjiang. I asked him yesterday, but he didn't give me a proper distribution. So whoever has a good time can just take it back."
Everyone gathered around and saw that the makeup box was filled with gold and silver jewelry. Judging from the style, most of them were brought back from Qianxiang Country.
While others were still pushing and shoving, You Erjie's eyes were already shining. She was being polite but her hands had already started to flip through them one by one.
Seeing her like this, others also looked at the styles .
"Huh?"
At this moment, You Erjie suddenly let out a low cry, then took out a handkerchief from her makeup box and spread it out in front of everyone suspiciously.
I saw some faint bloodstains on the plain handkerchief.
"this……"
Ping'er was particularly bad. Her eyes would fall on the handkerchief from time to time, and every time she did so it was as if her eyes were pricked by a needle, and she would quickly look away.
Crash~
About a quarter of an hour later, the sound of a pearl curtain was heard, and Sun Shaozong came out from the inner room in dishevel. At that moment, all the beautiful girls hurriedly left their gold and silver jewelry and went to greet him like a star.
Ruan Rong was one step behind the others, but she grabbed the handkerchief and threw it into Sun Shaozong's arms, saying jokingly, "This is my dearest treasure, don't let us lose it."
When Sun Shaozong saw the handkerchief, he suddenly jumped up from his official hat chair, but then he slumped back down again, saying lazily, "You are jealous of someone who has been flying thousands of miles away. Hurry up and have someone serve breakfast. I have to go to the Crown Prince's Mansion later."
Seeing that he was unwilling to elaborate, Ruan Rong let it go and did not ask any more questions.
On the one hand, she ordered Furong to go to the kitchen to pass on the message, and on the other hand, she asked Ping'er to get Sun Shaozong's clothes. The sisters all helped him put them on.
After everything was cleaned up, seven bowls and eight dishes were placed on the table.
Sun Shaozong sat down at the main seat, took the ivory chopsticks from Ruan Rong, and poked them lightly on the table upside down. Then the girls followed suit and sat down.
After he started to use his chopsticks, everyone started to pick up some food and pile it into his cup and plate.
Only Xing Xiuyan did not move. She asked with half of her rosy lips pursed, "Master just said that he wanted to go to the Prince's Mansion? Where...where is the Rongguo Mansion..."
When they heard her mention Rongguo Mansion, all the girls stopped what they were doing.
They all have relationships with the Rongguo Mansion to varying degrees. Seeing that the Jia family is about to face a disaster, it would be absolutely a lie to say that they are not concerned.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Sun Shaozong ate a piece of sweet and sour pork tenderloin calmly, and spoke after a long while: "I thought my trip was the icing on the cake, but I never thought it was a timely help."
After saying this, there was no further words.
The girls stared at each other for a long while, and Xing Xiuyan suddenly came to her senses. Her eyes flickered, and she put her palms together: "Amitabha, this is really the blessing of the Buddha."
After hearing what she said, Ping'er beside her also came to her senses. She was delighted at first, but then her face turned pale again. She blurted out, "So, the handkerchief..."
She uttered only a few words and quickly swallowed them back, like a pheasant with its neck strangled.
"Whatever happened?"
Ruan Rong asked suspiciously, "What's going on? Can you explain it clearly?!"
Ping Er suppressed the turmoil in her heart and forced a smile, saying, "Second Master is saying that now that the Kingdom of Qianxiang has been stabilized, the court will not resort to ruthless actions for the sake of Third Miss."
The ladies suddenly understood and couldn't help but sigh at the fortune of the Rongguo Mansion, which was full of blessings and misfortunes.
Ping Er fell silent again, her mind turning over and over, always thinking about one thing:
The handkerchief stained with bloodshot seemed to be a personal item of the third girl!
